Ontology and anthropology of interanimality: Merleau-Ponty from Tim ingold's perspective

Abstract

This essay explores Tim Ingold's anthropological theory following his references to Merleau-Ponty and the concept of interanimality/interagentivity. It poses some ideas of Ingold's "poetics of dwelling", which he highlights from ethnographies of hunter-gatherer peoples, and how these ideas are linked to an ontological consideration which does not dissociate body and person, body and mind, nature and culture, animality and humanity. The paper reviews animal literature in Merleau-Ponty's philosophy, and Ingold's critique of "Anthropology of the senses". It also gives critical clues for the ethical and political implications of this ontology.

The landscape is a trap: Duck decoys as multispecies atmospheres of deception and betrayal

“…We can then consider the behaviours decoy as collective acts in which different animals and humans somehow emerge in relation to each other and agree to work together across species boundaries (Barreto, 2010). We might start to see the duck decoy as a co-designed perceptual lifeworld, a mutually attuned mix of Umwelts, a place where ducks feel safe, comfortable and sociable while some of them are also being trapped.…”

“…The active production or orchestration of this atmosphere is inherently a temporally and spatially specific affair, revealing the complexity of this multispecies landscape that interweaves Umwelts in ways that incorporates human and non‐human subjectivities. We can then consider the behaviours in the decoy as collective acts in which different animals and humans somehow emerge in relation to each other and agree to work together across species boundaries (Barreto, 2010). We might start to see the duck decoy as a co‐designed perceptual lifeworld, a mutually attuned mix of Umwelts, a place where ducks feel safe, comfortable and sociable while some of them are also being trapped.…”

De yngste barna som vegfarere i barnehagen

“…I stedet for å se barns agentskap og omgivelser som atskilte, rettes oppmerksomheten mot barn-iomgivelser (Gallacher, 2016, s. 19). Agentskap genereres av avhengighet heller enn uavhengighet til omgivelsene; altså noe mennesker kan oppnå i sammenfiltringen med omgivelsene, i et såkalt interagentskap (Barreto, 2009). Dette kan forstås som at agentskap oppnås i relasjoner med omgivelsene heller enn som et resultat av menneskers intensjonalitet.…”